In the wake of becoming unexpectedly single, and even more unexpectedly turning 50, this fierce, funny feminist finds out what it’s like when your favourite joke becomes a reality!

From break-ups to wake-ups (and make-up!), Accidental Cougar is a fresh and funny look at dating later, and ever after.

Two jobs, two cats, two countries and four kids… nurse, comic, mother and mad international traveller Cath Styles finds a keepsake in Africa which turns her life upside down and makes her ask the big question…

Raspberry Ripple Reads is a play-reading event designed to add the dimension of difference to plays which are known within the theatre in Australia. It will also bring new work to the stage. The readings will see disabled and mainstream actors together on stage.

We are excited to announce our first Reading will be ‘Love Child’ by Australian playwright, Joanna Murray-Smith.

These readings will be a regular inclusion in the yearly schedule of Raspberry Ripple – one play per year to start with – and are a way of developing new work in an atmosphere of inclusion. We will try out new ideas with script in hand, and work out how disability can add new dimension in the context of established theatre practices.

We want to discover ways of finding new relationships within text – how new themes emerge between the characters.

At Raspberry Ripple this is gold to us. We are intrigued by the human condition, and for us, the addition of disability offers new provocation and possibility for interpretation that would not be in a reading where disability is absent.

Love Child is part of the Australian canon, by playwright Joanna Murray-Smith.

An adopted daughter comes to find her biological mother. In this reading of the work, the mother is a wheelchair user. Without altering the text, we will discover what is underneath the lines. What will happen?

Raspberry Ripple Productions, a disability led theatre company, is calling on the Australian public to help them create an accessible website and officially launch. The Pozible campaign launched on 05 May, 2017, aiming to raise $9,500 or more to help the organisation achieve its mission.

As a new entrant to the theatre scene, the organization relies on community and government funding. The Pozible campaign will help Raspberry Ripple build an accessible website to host information about its events, workshops and advocacy work. The website will be accessible to all people, no matter their disability. An important aspect that many websites overlook.

The funds will also be used for marketing and promotional services to get the word out there and advocate for disability in the arts. Finally, they will launch Raspberry Ripple Productions officially to the world, with a party and event to be hosted at Footscray Community Arts Centre on Saturday 3 June, 2017.

Raspberry Ripple’s remit is to create compelling theatre of a professional standard, using disabled and mainstream performers, writers and technical artists to tell stories of living in the world together.

Critical acclaim and opportunities followed the new disability led theatre company’s first official performance, ‘Enunciations’, at Footscray Community Arts Centre in 2016. Raspberry Ripple Productions is coming into its stride as a theatre company making a difference in the arts.

Kate Hood, Artistic Director and Founder of Raspberry Ripple Productions is the driving force behind the campaign. She’s passionate about making an inclusive and level playing field in the arts. Kate says:

“After being diagnosed with a neurological disease, I became a full time wheelchair user and struggled to keep my place as an actor in the mainstream performing arts.

Then I began to work with my new tribe of disabled artists – and realised that there is a rich seam of material that has never been explored in the mainstream. The dimension that could be created by performers with disability has been ignored for too long.

That’s why I started Raspberry Ripple Productions. I want to see a pathway made for performers, writers, directors, and any disabled artist who has the talent and desire to work professionally in the performing arts.”

The Pozible campaign will run for four weeks and offers rewards from as small as a thanks on Facebook to tickets to the company’s productions, or being a named sponsor on the website.

Natalie Harris had a stellar 2016, performing her solo show Good Grief to sold out crowds at MICF and Melbourne Fringe and being awarded Screen Australia Gender Matters funding to develop the show into a web series. Now, Nat returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her brand new solo stand up show Dragon.

‘Dragon’ is the nickname Nat proudly gave herself at the age of 19 and persisted with until even her own mother finally started calling her ‘Dragon’. Now 31, she’s got an RSA under her belt, body corporate on her tail and two online dating profiles to her name. Her third solo show is filled with honest, divergent and hilarious tales of what it is like to be a self-made ‘Dragon’ in a modern world.

Natalie Harris (The Vagina Diaries ABC2, Twentysomething ABC2, , Fancy Boy ABC2) was a RAW State Finalist in 2012 and made her solo stand up debut in Secrets (MICF 2014). She co-starred in CREEPS (Melbourne Fringe 2014), Marked to Clear (MICF 2015) and brought her second solo show Good Grief to MICF and Melbourne Fringe 2016.

“It’s safe to say that Natalie Harris’s secret is out — and a pleasure to share.” Herald Sun

“This girl is one to look out for, and this show is definitely one to see.” Yawp Magazine

We are excited to be working with The Other Film Festival (aka TOFF) in 2016.

The Other Film Festival is back in 2016 with an exciting new venue and festival partners. The festival is to be delivered under the umbrella of the Melbourne Fringe Festival and will take place in the Experimedia space at State Library Victoria from 28 – 30 September 2016.

Proudly produced by Arts Access Victoria, The Other Film Festival (TOFF) is Australia’s leading international Deaf and disability film festival. For more than a decade TOFF has challenged and delighted audiences by delivering frank and thoughtful screenings, forums, presentations and workshops about the portrayal of Deaf people and people with disability in screen culture. These events are led by people who are Deaf or live with disability, speaking about their lived experiences of disability or being Deaf. They also reflect upon the challenges presented by the media and screen industry in Australia.

“Since the inaugural Festival in 2004, TOFF has been changing how the community thinks about Deafness and disability by programming provocative films from around the world about the lived experience of being Deaf or having a disability. We want audiences to be engaged and challenged, and leave screenings with a fresh perspective” said Veronica Pardo, Executive Director of Arts Access Victoria.

Actor Bethany Robinson – photo credit Pippa Samaya

“This year’s program will feature a highly respected Deaf US filmmaker, Jules Dameron, who will share her experience in advocating for pivotal issues in the screen industry, such as authentic casting” said Pardo.

Simon Abrahams, CEO of the Melbourne Fringe Festival says he is very excited to bring TOFF to audiences this year as part of the Fringe Festival program. “TOFF is a unique and fully accessible festival that bring together audiences to explore, question and celebrate the lived experience of Deafness and disability”, said Abrahams.

The TOFF 2016 program will run as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival during 28 – 30 September 2016 at Experimedia, State Library Victoria. To find out more about the festival visit http://otherfilmfestival.com/

Raspberry Ripple Productions, a Disability led theatre company, presents their first show, Enunciations. Celebrating the deliciousness of diversity, Enunciations will run from 19 – 21 August, 2016, at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.

Raspberry Ripple operates around the Social Model of disability, which says that the barriers put in place by a world designed for ‘normal people’ disables us far more than our bodies ever will. We aim to be instrumental in creating a pathway into mainstream theatre for disabled performers.

The founder and Artistic Director of Raspberry Ripple is Kate Hood, a passionate advocate for disability in the arts. Hood had a full career as an able-bodied actor, writer and director, for more than twenty years. She has performed in classics, musicals, TV, film and radio. Some of her credits include Prisoner, Blue Heelers and she was a prominent voice-over artist for ABC Melbourne.

Kate Hood, photo by Julie Millowick

After being diagnosed with a neurological disease, Hood became a full-time wheelchair user and struggled to find her place in the mainstream arts industry. Stories told on our screens and stages rarely include people with disability – and when those characters are seen, invariably they are played by an able-bodied actor.

“My experience of being disabled and an actor is that there is a blank space around me – I am largely invisible in my everyday life, and also, unfortunately, within my chosen profession.” Says Kate

In Raspberry Ripple‘s first show, ‘Enunciations’, eloquent words – and some not so eloquent! – will be spoken by disabled and able-bodied performers to tell the 21st century story of being in the soup together. Classic text will tug at your heart strings, new words discomfort you, both will make you fall off your seat with laughter and re-evaluate living in an able-ist world. A discombobulation of thought, mind and matter!

Raspberry Ripple productions mission is to create theatre of a professional standard using disabled performers, writers, directors, designers and technical artists.

No we are not being derogatory about someone at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival. This is the tittle of the show, Mediawhore, we are working on with the incredible Isabella Valette!

Do you hate reality television? Perhaps it’s your guilty pleasure?

Meet the most fame hungry narcissist in social media history. April Fools, a young aspiring actress who realises that all her dreams could be fulfilled via the launch pad of reality TV. April is determined to remain famous, whatever the cost!

Between interviews with her super-casual yet cutthroat agent, parasitic journalists and ruthless audition panels, April is forced to delve deeper into what an audience really wants to see.

Valette brings a reworked version of ‘Mediawhore’ (formerly ‘Media Release’) to probe the relentless rise of instant celebrity culture, its stars, the entertainment industry, social media and the effect that all this has on our psyches.

Valette debuted a sell out season at Melbourne Fringe and was mentioned by The Herald Sun in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as a ‘newcomer generating buzz’. Valette is also a member of prestigious Melbourne based improvisation troupes, ‘Impromptunes,’ and ‘The Big HOO-HAA!’ Valette will travel to Europe in July to perform her sassy brand of comedy and also join ‘Impromptunes’ for a run at Underbelly Edinburgh Fringe 2016.

With the help of Director Fiona Scott-Norman and choreography by Jason Teasdale, Valette is able to present Melbourne audiences with a more interactive version of the show. Musical input by Isaac Heyward and Rainer Pollard makes this show right at home at the Melbourne Cabaret Festival 2016.

Whether it’s competing for the affections of men, or letting her body take centre stage over her talents, April must confront these barriers if she’s truly going to make it. With a gripping storyline, concise comic timing and cleverly reworked pop songs, ‘MediaWhore’ is both humorous and thought provoking.

★★★★ “Powerhouse…a must-watch” – The Advertiser (Adelaide)

★★★★ “A smart, funny exposé of the reality of reality TV” – The Music (Melbourne)

We invite you to explore the craziness of a way of life where strange is normal, and normal is strange as Cath Styles presents her new show SHIFT at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2016.

Cath Styles has been a psychiatric nurse for 25 years, and a comedian for 10. Between the nights, evenings, weekends and holidays she’s worked in both jobs, she’s never had a weekend off. Ever! Shift is the show where both her worlds collide, and explores her on again, off again, love affair with her (paying!) job.

No stranger to finding the funny in the dark and bizarre, the creator of festival favourite Darkness and Light blends stand-up and storytelling to tell touching, and twisted tales of her enduring 25 year fling with psych nursing.